1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inserts for fitting into a conventional dress or athletic shoes for providing cushioning between the sole of the shoe wearer's foot and the shoe insole, and in particular to resilient shock absorbing shoe inserts, and the like.
2. Prior Art
Shoe inserts are, of course, well known and include cushioning insoles as well as insoles impregnated with chemicals for treating foot diseases, foot fungus, and the like, and have heretofore involved a use of polymeric materials in their fabrication. Such have not, however, included an insole design for incorporation into an engineered polymer that is like that of the present invention. Where earlier shoe inserts have generally been formed as a flat or slightly curved section of material cut from a flexible pad or sponge type material to conform to and fit within a shoe, such have relied only upon the elastic or rebound characteristics of the selected pad or sponge material to provide cushioning and foot protect. The present invention involves both a modern polymeric material that is selected to provide desired cushioning and rebound characteristics and additionally provides an arrangement of spaced cavities formed in the insert surface opposite to the shoe sole where individual cavities will flex to absorb and dissipate shock forces directed therein with the shapes of cavities specifically selected to provide a desired flexure and rebound for a particular location on the wearer's foot where stress concentrations are expected. For example, the cavities at the ball and along the outer edge of the foot are cylindrical cavities formed to have approximately half the area of other adjacent dome shaped cavities to absorb, without unwanted outward collapse, forces as the wearer's foot experiences in walking and running.